


In Two Minds

by Laragh



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/F, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-06
Updated: 2010-07-06
Packaged: 2019-09-29 10:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17201621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laragh/pseuds/Laragh
Summary: What happens when the BAU is sent to investigate a series of abductions in Sunnydale, California?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted @ [The Kitten Board](http://thekittenboard.net/thekitt/viewtopic.php?t=6002) in July 2010
> 
> (an alternate 'Family' with timelines of the two shows merged)

 

 

_"The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary. Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness." - Joseph Conrad_

* * *

 

**Dark Garage, Unknown Location**

 

He lifted the hood of the trunk of the car and turned his flashlight on, shining it on the body that lay in there. He felt his rage begin to bubble over when he saw the familiar yet distinctly different features of the person he sought.  
  
  
“Wrong,” he said, his voice tinged with venom and anger as he slammed the trunk closed and glared at the other man who standing beside the driver’s seat side of the car, “Try again. And this time, get it right.”  
  


* * *

 

**Quantico, Virginia**

 

Jennifer ‘JJ’ Jareu grabbed the incoming fax as it came through the machine, putting it amongst the other information she’d been sent on the latest crime spree they’d been asked to investigate. She closed the file held it in her arms as she walked out of her office and into the open-plan offices of the Behavioural Analysis Unit of the FBI, her place of work and the place she often considered, whether she liked it or not, her second home.  
  
  
“Please tell me that’s the file from the last case we closed and you’re just finishing up,” Derek Morgan said hopefully, sitting on the desk of Spencer Reid and throwing a baseball in the air, “I promised I’d show Reid how to throw a proper curveball.”  
  
  
“The baseball pitch, not the Iraqi informant,” Reid clarified, before a confused frown graced his features, “Though I’m not sure I could throw the man even if wanted to, to the best of my knowledge he’s under strong protection of the German police.”  
  
  
“Sorry, guys,” JJ said with an apologetic smile, ignoring Reid’s statement as she was quite used to his random spurts of information, “We have a new one. I need everyone in the briefing room in 5.”  
  
  
Derek sighed and dropped the ball onto the table, letting it roll slightly before it came to a halt where Reid picked it up and seemed to examine it scrupulously.  
  
  
“Did you know the yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile in length if laid out on a flat surface?”  
  
  
“I sometimes think the same thing about your brain,” Derek muttered before standing and turning on his heels towards the boardroom as Reid frowned again, not having heard what his colleague had said.  
  
  
Ten minutes later, the entire team – SSAs Emily Prentiss, David Rossi, Aaron ‘Hotch’ Hotchner, Morgan, Reid and their technical analyst Penelope Garcia all sat around the large circular table as JJ stood at the head, a large projector screen behind her filled with separate images of three unconscious girls, each lying on what appeared to be a dirt road.  
  
  
“Jessica Davies, 20 Alison Johnson, 19 and Sandra Williams, 19,” JJ said as she used the remote in her hands to flick through their images, “All have been abducted over the three days - one a day- then found within a few hours of their abduction, mostly before someone’s even had a chance to report them missing, on the same stretch of road, all unconscious and with no memory of where they’d been since they’d been taken when they woke up.”  
  
  
“Using some kind of substance to keep them asleep?” Derek asked as he flicked through his copy of the information in front of him.  
  
  
“Nothing found in their systems,” JJ shook her head, “We’re operating on the assumption that the unsub is using chloroform or something similar. Here’s the weird part though, when the girls are found, there’s only small cuts and bruises on them, consistent with a minor fall or most likely, being thrown onto the ground.”  
  
  
“Any signs of sexual assault?” Emily asked from her seat.  
  
  
JJ shook her head.  
  
  
“None. By all accounts, whoever is doing this barely even touches these girls. There’s no apparent reason why he’s abducting them.”  
  
  
“There’s always a reason,” Hotch replied stoically, “Or else we wouldn’t have jobs.”  
  
  
“They all have blonde hair and blue eyes,” Reid commented, “That can’t be a coincidence. And they’re all around the same age.”  
  
  
“No such thing as coincidences,” Derek replied, patting Reid on the back with a wink, “You think you would’ve learned that by now. Hey, JJ, is there a bit of a personal reason why we’re taking this case?”  
  
  
Derek raised an eyebrow at his blonde-haired, blue-eyed colleague, but JJ just shook her head.  
  
  
“I didn’t even consider that. This came straight from the Governor, there wasn’t much choice in taking this case. Apparently his daughter knew one of the girls from high-school.”  
  
  
There was a series of understanding nods from around the table, until Garcia spoke up.  
  
  
“What’s he doing with them?” she asked, confused, “I mean, if he’s not hurting them and he’s not...doing anything else with them, why take them?”  
  
  
“That’s what we’re going to find out,” Hotch said, standing up, as if to assert his power over the group, “Garcia, you’re coming with us for this one.”  
  
  
“Yes, sir,” Garcia replied, jumping up excitedly, “I am at your ever loyal and humble service.”  
  
  
“We’re gonna need all the help we can get,” Hotch continued, almost to himself, “I’m gonna call the director, get Kevin assigned on this case with us. Anyone else would take too long to fill in on how we work, he can be debriefed on the place. Garcia, can you...?”  
  
  
“Yes, yes of course,” Garcia said, scurrying off to go call her boyfriend and fill him in, before quickly turning back to group, “Where exactly are we going?”  
  
  
Hotch snapped the case file closed in his hand as his other hand went to his cell phone, dialling the number for the director.  
  
  
“Wheels up in 20, everyone. We’re heading to Sunnydale, California.”


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

 

_"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.” - Friedrich Nietzsche_

* * *

 

**Outskirts of Sunnydale, California**

“Okay, Xander, it’s somewhere along here...” Buffy Summers said as she strained her neck to look out the window, “Right, Will?”  
  
  
“Right,” Willow Rosenberg nodded from the backseat of the car that she, Buffy and Xander were in, with Xander driving, “That’s what the police reports I hacked into said, all three girls were found on this road. You still think something eerie is going on, Buff?”  
  
  
“Have you forgotten where we live?” Buffy scoffed, “So it’s not the normal slice and dice root the demons we deal with normally take, but these abductions are just screaming fiend-ish.”  
  
  
“Oh my god, there!” Willow said suddenly, pointing out the window, “Look, there’s another girl! We have to help her!”  
  
  
Xander slowed the car and both he and Willow went to jump out of the car but Buffy quickly reached forward and put a hand on each of their shoulders, stopping them.  
  
  
“Wait. It could be a trap.”  
  
  
“What?” Willow asked, shrugging Buffy’s hand off her shoulder, “Buffy the police have found the other three bodies and there was no trap there!”  
  
  
“Yea, well, what if the demon was trying to seem inconspicuous until he knew we’d be getting involved and now he’s just laying in wait for the slayer?”  
  
  
“Yea, because demons are known for their inconspicuous nature,” Xander retorted.  
  
  
“She’s unconscious, Buffy, we have to help,” Willow said before opening the door and running towards the girl’s body, Xander on her heels.  
  
  
Buffy jumped out of the car as well, more concerned with protecting her friends than anything else and looked around the area as Willow lifted the girl’s head into her lap and Xander knelt beside them.  
  
  
“Should we take her to the hospital?” he asked, shaking her shoulder slightly.  
  
  
“The police reports said all the other girls hadn’t been hurt,” Willow replied, “She seems okay, but that doesn’t mean something didn’t change with this one. Can you lift her, Xand?”  
  
  
Xander went to lift the girl into his arms, just as three large, black SUVs pulled up around them, and two people got out of each car, each of them pointing a gun at the other three. Xander fell back onto his butt and put his hands up in front of him, cowering as Willow moved her hands from the girl’s head up in front of her and Buffy protectively stood in front of her two friends.  
  
  
“Hey, chill, put your guns down!” Buffy said to the group.  
  
  
“Who are you and what are you doing with that girl?” Hotch shouted.  
  
  
“We’re ah...we’re um...”  
  
  
“Investigative journalists,” Willow offered, her voice scared but steady, “With the university newspaper. We heard about the abductions and came to investigate and found the girl here. We were just gonna take her to the hospital.”  
  
  
Hotch nodded at Emily, who went forward and took the unconscious girl from Willow, checking her over.  
  
  
“She’s okay,” Emily called as Willow and Xander stood up, still with their hands in the air, “Call a bus to make sure though.”  
  
  
Derek whipped his cell phone out and started calling for an ambulance as Hotch and Rossi moved forwards, still holding their guns until they got to the three and Rossi grabbed a hold of the boy’s arm, while Hotch held onto Willow and Buffy, both agents doing a double-take when they saw Xander up close.  
  
  
“What?” he asked nervously, shifting from foot to foot.  
  
  
“You just look like someone we know,” Hotch replied, shaking his head in disbelief.  
  
  
Rossi was more composed and tightened his hold on Xander.  
  
  
“If you’re so innocent, you won’t mind coming with us down to the station.”  
  
  
Buffy groaned but Willow quickly kicked her in the shin to silence her, before addressing Hotch.  
  
  
“Sure. We can go to the station, I presume you mean the police station ‘cause taking us to the fire station wouldn’t really make much sense, unless you thought we were liars as in of the ‘liar, liar pants on fire’ variety, but we’re not, we really just were trying to help and-”  
  
  
“You honestly think this is a criminal mastermind?” Buffy asked as they were walked towards the SUVs.  
  
  
Rossi and Hotch exchanged doubtful looks as the redhead continued to babble, but knew that looks could be deceiving, especially in their line of work, and they had just caught these people at a fresh crime scene, one that hadn’t even been called in yet. The only reason the agents had even stumbled upon it was that they were going to investigate the area for clues.  
  
  
Willow, Xander and Buffy got in the backseat of the car they’d been led to as Rossi and Hotch talked with the rest of the team about isolating the crime scene and gathering whatever forensic evidence they could. Willow, having recovered slightly, nudged Xander.  
  
  
“Cover me,” she whispered as she got her cell phone out and hid it behind one of Xander’s arms, typing furiously.  
  
  
“What are you doing?” Xander whispered.  
  
  
“Shush!” Willow replied, concentrating, “Whatever they ask, we work for the paper and Giles is our alibi for the days of the other abductions. Okay?”  
  
  
The other two nodded as Hotch and Rossi both got in the front seat and Willow thank all the gods, goddesses and Xander’s unusually large arms that they didn’t notice her on her phone for the short car ride into the Sunnydale police station. Once there, they were all put in separate interrogation rooms and asked the same questions; who they were, what they were doing at the crime scene, how they heard about the abductions and where they were the days of the other abductions.  
  
  
Buffy and Xander followed Willow’s advice to say they were with the paper and luckily all thought to use the excuse that they lived in a small town to explain how they knew about the crimes, not wanting to alert them to Willow’s hacking skills. When the questioning was finished, they were all allowed wait together in the waiting area of the station.  
  
  
“Don’t worry guys, I covered our bases,” Willow whispered to the other two as she twiddled her thumbs.  
  
  
“How?” Buffy asked.  
  
  
“I hacked into the USD website on the way over here. Set up a page saying we worked for the paper. It’s nothing fancy but it should do the job.”  
  
  
“That’s what you were doing on your cell?” Xander asked in disbelief.  
  
  
Willow shrugged her shoulders and nodded.  
  
  
“I have a really good phone.”  


* * *

  
  
  
“Find anything, Garcia?” Hotch asked as he walked over to his analyst.  
  
  
“Their story checks out, captain,” Garcia nodded, showing Hotch a webpage, “From the University of Sunnydale website about the school paper and their dedicated investigative team, Buffy Summers, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg. Anya Jenkins and Tara Maclay are listed as contributors, all overseen by a Mr. Rupert Giles.”  
  
  
“And their personal records?”  
  
  
“As far as I can tell, all clean.”  
  
  
“Yea, their alibi checked out, too,” Hotch sighed, “They were all researching for the paper in a store in the town for that Mr. Giles. Okay, thanks, Garcia, I can cut them loose.”  
  
  
“Uh, sir one thing...” Garcia spun in her chair and bit on a pencil, before glancing at the direction she knew Kevin was in, in an office with the local police working on finding the unsub, the agents wanting to cover all their bases, “This Xander guy...does he...”  
  
  
“Look remarkably like Kevin?” Hotch asked impassively, as was his nature, “Yes, he does.”  
  
  
Both of them momentarily glanced at Reid, who had come back with the rest of the team during the questionings, as if expecting him to start spouting something about there being a certain amount of human archetypes and how it was statistically probable that people resemble each other, but the doctor was too consumed with some graph he was writing on one of the whiteboards to pay attention to their conversation.  
  
  
“Right, thank you, sir,” Garcia replied, “Just checking.”  
  
  
“Am I gonna have to fight my way through two men for you now, baby girl?” Derek asked with his ever-charming smile, sitting on the edge of Garcia’s desk, “‘Cause you know I will.”  
  
  
“And scratch those perfectly-sculpted hands?” Garcia asked, “Then what use would you be to me?”  
  
  
Hotch moved off, quite used to the blatant flirting between his two colleagues and went to find the three he had brought in.  
  
  
“You’re free to go,” he said as he stepped up to them, “I’m not stupid enough to tell you to stay out these things, but in future, don’t change anything at a crime scene before calling the police.”  
  
  
“Um, the girl...?” Willow asked from her seat.  
  
  
“She’s fine,” Hotch replied, “No major injuries, just like the others, as I’m sure you know. And she doesn’t remember anything.”  
  
  
“Look, I know you’re a big hot-shot agent,” Buffy said, standing up. She knew something wiggy was going on and she wasn’t about to let it go, especially to people who had no idea what they were dealing with, “But you should know, the police here aren’t worth the however-small salaries they get.”  
  
  
Hotch remained silent, he had noticed the apparent lack of enthusiasm from the Sunnydale PD, but he wasn’t about to say anything disparaging in front of civilians.  
  
  
“Look, all I’m saying is, we can help. I know it’s probably not your protocol or whatever, but we’ve been doing this a while. Investigating for the paper, I mean. We find stuff. We know stuff, we know people. We can help.”  
  
  
Hotch stayed silent for another moment; he normally wouldn’t even begin to entertain the idea this young woman was putting forth and logically, he thought to himself, how much use could this petite blonde and what looked like her two sidekicks possibly do to help the case? But he was uncharacteristically completely stumped on this case, the unsub was defying all the knowledge he had on the inner workings of the criminal mind, and like he’d said when they were still back in Quantico, he could use all the help he could get.  
  
  
“You understand, I can’t have civilians gaining access to any classified information.”  
  
  
“The police here are gonna sweep you under the rug within the next 24 hours,” Buffy replied, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly, “I’m betting they’re already reluctant to share any information with you. I’m surprised they even called you in.”  
  
  
“They didn’t,” Hotch admitted, not liking that Buffy was making sense and starting to fear he was in over his head, “At least not directly. Their hand was forced by the Governor.”  
  
  
“Stuff happens in this town, agent. Stuff me and my friends try to stop. Stuff you can’t even begin to comprehend. But we both want the same thing here. We want to figure out why these girls are being abducted and we want to stop the perpetrator.”  
  
  
“And you think you have the capabilities to do that?”  
  
  
“I know I do,” Buffy replied, staring the man dead in the eye, “Like I said, you have no idea what you’re dealing with. And you won’t get any help from the boys in blue in there.”  
  
  
Hotch was feeling very odd about the whole situation and he couldn’t believe he was actually believing this young woman and her friends, but he’d always been a believer in trusting his instincts, always taught his team to do the same and his instincts now were telling him to believe these people.  
  
  
“Do you have an operations base?”  
  
  
Buffy looked completely perplexed by the agent’s question but Xander jumped in to her rescue.  
  
  
“We do. The Magic Box, it’s off Maple. We’re pretty much there all the time.”  
  
  
Hotch nodded, writing the information in his cell.  
  
  
“We’ll be in touch.”


	3. Chapter 3

_“All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown.” - William Harvey_

* * *

  
  
“You guys will not believe what just happened,” Buffy sighed as she walked through the doors of the Magic Box.  
  
  
Anya was standing behind the register, with one hand draped over it protectively while Giles and Tara were sitting at the rounded table off to the side, a variety of books open in front of them. Willow smiled when she saw Tara and walked towards her, falling into the seat beside her and giving her a sweet kiss.  
  
  
“Why are you never that happy to see me?” Anya pouted, glaring at Xander.  
  
  
“I’m always that happy to see you,” Xander replied, going towards the counter and leaning over it to give his girlfriend a kiss, “I’m just a man and show it in less obvious ways.”  
  
  
Anya seemed to accept this, she was still learning about human life and human relationships after all and knew Xander had no reason to lie to her.  
  
  
“Does this have something to do with the phone call I got from a certain FBI agent asking me to clarify the whereabouts of you three over the past week?” Giles asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
  
Tara’s eyes widened and her head snapped around, looking at Giles  
  
  
“W-what?”  
  
  
“I didn’t want to say anything until they were here to tell us what happened,” Giles said, giving Tara a comforting smile, “I didn’t wish to alarm you unless absolutely necessary.”  
  
  
Tara’s head turned to Willow this time, as she waited for an explanation.  
  
  
“We kinda got arrested,” Buffy said as she grabbed a can of soda from the mini-fridge behind the counter and popped the tab as she sat at the table.  
  
  
“Not arrested!” Willow quickly clarified when Tara went pale, “Not arrested, baby, just brought in for questioning.”  
  
  
Tara gave the redhead a look to say that wasn’t any better and Willow gulped, that look meant unhappy-Tara and an unhappy Tara was not good. Not least of which was that unhappy-Tara was generally very unreceptive to smoochies  
  
  
“I t-thought you we’re j-just going to ch-check out the area?”  
  
  
“We were,” Willow said, taking one of her girlfriend’s hands and breathing a sigh of relief when it wasn’t snatched back, “We did. But there was another girl there.”  
  
  
“Another one?” Giles asked with a frown, “That makes four over four days. Quite bizarre.”  
  
  
“Yea,” Buffy agreed, continuing with the story, “Anyway, we went to help her and these FBI agents show up and brought us in. But it’s all good. Wills here worked her computer-magic and made it look like we were working for the school paper. So that’s what they think if they start asking anymore questions, okay?”  
  
  
“D-do you think they w-will?” Tara asked.  
  
  
Buffy sighed, before shrugging.  
  
  
“I think we’ll be seeing them again. I think they know we’re trying to help though. I mean, dammit, we’ve never had to deal with the police before. How the hell do I explain that I killed the guy they were looking for because he was already either undead or something that literally came from hell?”  
  
  
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Giles answered.  
  
  
“I have a demon friend who can make anyone think the past week of their lives was a dream,” Anya interjected.  
  
  
“Or I know some spells that can make people forget things,” Willow added, grinning excitedly when she thought of all the magics she’d learnt, especially since Tara had entered her life.  
  
  
Tara frowned at this, but Willow didn’t notice as Giles shook his head.  
  
  
“I sincerely hope such measures won’t be necessary. But for now, I feel we still need to focus on the issue at hand. Girls are going missing, with no harm being done to them. I know we discussed this idea before, but could it be a message of some description for you, Buffy? These girls do resemble you...”  
  
  
“They have blonde hair,” Buffy replied, “That’s the only resemblance. That and our age...”  
  
  
“Their eyes are blue, though,” Xander said, taking a seat at the table too, “Yours are green, Buff.”  
  
  
“Demons don’t really do attention to detail,” Anya spoke up, “It could just be coincidence they all have blue eyes and this demon really is trying to tell you that it’s after you.”  
  
  
“Thanks, Anya, for your comforting words,” Buffy replied sarcastically, before gesturing around the table, “Did the books show up anything?”  
  
  
“N-no,” Tara shook her head, “We l-looked up any references to d-demons that abduct their p-prey but it’s mostly just related to t-torturing for i-information.”  
  
  
Tara shuddered at this and Willow rubbed her back comfortingly.  
  
  
“Quite unpleasant,” Giles agreed, “But as far as we can tell, this isn’t a signature of any demon we’re aware of. Which leads us back to the message idea.”  
  
  
Buffy was about to say something when the bell above the door rang, and everyone turned towards it. Anya perked up, as she always did when a prospective new customer came in and everyone else was stopped from reacting as Xander suddenly jumped from his chair, pale and twitchy.  
  
  
“Toth, Toth, it’s Toth, he’s back!! Quick, Willow, get the chalk and, the candles and the ‘let the spell be ended’, say it, say it!!!!”  
  
  
Buffy jumped out of her seat as well, fighting stance ready as she took in the site of the two people who’d just walked in, a woman with vibrant and obviously-dyed red hair, put up in bunches with a man who looked incredibly like Xander, only geekier (which Buffy hadn’t realised was possible) and wearing glasses.  
  
  
“Two Xanders!” Anya proclaimed, clapping her hands together, and moving over to the table, before glaring at Willow and Tara, “You witches stopped me from getting my threesome last time, this time you can butt out!”  
  
  
“Whoa. My name is Penelope Garcia,” the woman said, holding up a badge that showed she was with the FBI, “I’m a technical analyst with the FBI, this is Kevin Lynch, a fellow analyst. And uh, my boyfriend, so there will be no threesomes with him, okay?”  
  
  
Anya just scowled and crossed her arm across her chest as Buffy moved forwards, eyeing Kevin up and down.  
  
  
“They’re...”  
  
  
“Identical,” Garcia finished, “I know. But they’re different. For example, my one likes comic books, makes awkward jokes and is an avid Star Trek fan.”  
  
  
Everyone else in the store all exchanged glances until Anya spoke up.  
  
  
“That doesn’t really help.”  
  
  
“Really?” Kevin spoke for the first time, stepping towards Xander, “You like X-Men? I have issue #524 with me. Brought it for the plane journey.”  
  
  
Xander perked up at the mention of his favourite comic, the eeriness of having what was basically his double forgotten in place of reading the latest on Wolverine and Cyclops.  
  
  
“This hasn’t even been released yet. How did you get it?”  
  
  
“It’s amazing the things you can get when you have access to the entire national security database,” Kevin replied with a goofy smile, pulling the comic out of his satchel.  
  
  
The two boys sat down at the table and Buffy looked at Garcia.  
  
  
“I saw you at the police station.”  
  
  
“Yea...” Garcia replied, looking around the store, the freaky feeling she’d been having since Hotch had told her to come down to the shop, “My boss says that I’m supposed to work with you. From here. Not exact the portal of technological excellence I’m used to, but I can work it.”  
  
  
“The tall guy?” Buffy asked, “Stuffy? Nods a lot?”  
  
  
“That’s Hotch,” Garcia nodded, “He says I’m working with you guys ‘off the radar’, which, well, is kinda what I do best.”  
  
  
“So that means...?”  
  
  
Garcia opened the satchel she had across her chest and produced her laptop.  
  
  
“That means that if you guys can help in any way you can, no matter how...illicit, then that help would be greatly appreciated.”  
  
  
Buffy’s eyebrows shot up in doubt.  
  
  
“Your boss said that?”  
  
  
“My boss knows I can work things without leaving a trail,” Garcia replied, “And he made it known that this might be one of those times. He didn’t say it directly, but for some reason, he thinks you guys might be key in getting this case solved. The cops down at the station didn’t even want to give me access to their files, not that that stopped me, but still, something weird is going on. And if Hotch trusts you, then I trust him.”  
  
  
Buffy looked Garcia up and down before glancing back at the table where everyone bar Xander and Kevin, who were both engrossed in the comic, were watching her and the scene play out in front of them.  
  
  
“Okay,” she nodded eventually, “Well you’re gonna need a lot of trust if you’re working with us. And we’re gonna need to trust that certain things that you learn...you’ll keep to yourself.”  
  
  
“Off the radar,” Garcia repeated, “I won’t even tell the team unless it’s something to help with the case.”  
  
  
Buffy and Garcia locked eyes for a moment, earning each other’s trust quietly before Buffy nodded towards the table and motioned for Garcia to follow her.  
  
  
“Well first you should meet the gang,” Buffy said, pointing out each person as she spoke, “This is Willow, her girlfriend Tara, this is Giles, you know Xander, and Anya, Xander’s girlfriend, which I’m sure you gathered.”  
  
  
Garcia waved and everyone gave a small wave back, before Buffy gestured for her to sit down and sighed.  
  
  
“Right. We have a lot to tell you.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
“I knew it!” Kevin exclaimed as Buffy finished filling him and Garcia in on the basics of who they all were and what was going on, “I mean, I knew that there had to be...”  
  
  
“Supernatural happenings,” Garcia breathed, “I mean, I’ve always been into the mystical, but I never thought...”  
  
  
“I know this comes as quite a shock,” Giles said, looking intently at Garcia, “But you have to understand the sheer importance of keeping this a secret is. If word were ever to get out that...”  
  
  
“Vampires and demons exist and are being stopped by a group of kids in Southern California?” Garcia asked, a small smirk playing on her lips, “I get it. Just look at the Twilight mania. People finding out vampires are real would not be a good thing.”  
  
  
“Well...certainly,” Giles coughed, unsure of what exactly Garcia was talking about but understanding she got the point, “We can trust you to keep this part secret? Even from your team? The government especially, they’d take Buffy and probably Willow and Tara away to experiment on them and other such...unpleasantness.”  
  
  
“I swear on...everything and anyone,” Garcia replied emphatically, “This secret will go to the grave with both me and Kevin.”  
  
  
Garcia looked to Kevin, who nodded vigorously as well.  
  
  
“They’d probably just put me in the nuthouse if I said anything anyway.”  
  
  
Garcia smiled at her adorable boyfriend before turning back to the group.  
  
  
“So you think a demon is behind this?”  
  
  
“Well it has to be,” Buffy said with a shrug, “And we’re thinking he’s targeting these girls to send me a message. ‘You’re next’ or something.”  
  
  
“‘Cause you’re the slayer,” Garcia said in slight awe, “Sorry, that’s just so cool. Um, okay, so where do we go from here?”  
  
  
“I have to patrol tonight,” Buffy said, then off the confused looks from the two new additions, “I find and kill whatever unworldly creatures I can find. I’ll stop by Willie’s, see what information I can punch outta him. We all meet back here tomorrow morning and try and stop this before another girl gets taken.”  
  
  
“And I will report back to my colleagues that you guys are looking into things with some informants you have,” Garcia replied, “And I will come back tomorrow with whatever they’ve figured out. It’s probably not much considering what we’re dealing with isn’t human, but maybe some of the trivial details can help.”  
  
  
Buffy nodded her head.  
  
  
“Sounds good. I’ll walk you two back to your hotel. Do not leave it until sunrise, and do not let any of your agent people go either. Make something up, whatever you have to do, just don’t let them go. Guns don’t do anything against vampires.”  
  
  
Garcia and Kevin nodded their understanding before they started packing up their belongings.  
  
  
“Nice to meet such a good-looking dude,” Xander said jokingly as he shook Kevin’s hand.  
  
  
“You too,” Kevin joked back, both of them grinning goofily.  
  
  
“Come on, let’s get you guys home safe.”


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

 

_"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and of unspeakable love." - Washington Irving_

* * *

  
  
Both Buffy and Garcia rolled their eyes with a chuckle before Buffy guided the two analysts out of the magic box and Xander said he’d drive everyone else home. He spent the entire car journey talking about Kevin and how great he was, causing Anya to proclaim angrily that if he loved him so much maybe he should sleep with him that night. They were still arguing, much to Giles’ discomfort, when Willow and Tara got out outside their building and walked quietly, hand-in-hand up to their dorm.  
  
  
“Are you okay?” Willow asked when they got in, closing the door behind her as Tara went over to the dresser, “You’ve barely said a word all day. I know Buffy was doing a lot of talking when she was explaining the slayer stuff and all but you seem kinda...baby?”  
  
  
Willow walked over to the bed as Tara sat down on it, her head ducked and her arms folded across her chest. The redhead sank down to her knees in front of the blonde and gently unfolded her arms, taking a hand in each of hers.  
  
  
“Baby, please tell me what’s wrong.”  
  
  
Tara fought back a sniffle before meeting her girlfriend’s gaze, seeing the love and concern shining in her eyes.  
  
  
“I’m just w-worried.”  
  
  
“Hey, no stuttering, don’t stutter,” Willow said almost desperately. Tara hadn’t stuttered around her in months, when she was around the gang, sure, but not when they were alone, “What are you worried about?”  
  
  
Tara ducked her head again, she was worried about a few things. The inclusion of the FBI in their Scooby Gang was worrying in and of itself, but Garcia had informed them of both hers and Kevin’s special skills within their bureau and Tara knew the implications of what they could find, with probable relative ease made her uneasy. Especially since it was stuff she hadn’t told Willow yet.  
  
  
She’d wanted to, so badly, but was terrified of what her reaction would be. Would Willow leave her if she found out the....details of her past? Would she hate her? Think she was weak? That had been playing on her mind for the better part of the evening, but on top of that, she was concerned over some of the remarks Willow had made throughout the day, so decided to voice those concerns instead.  
  
  
“I’m just...” she took a deep breath, to stop her stutter before it came out, “You said some things today. About magic.”  
  
  
“Well, yea,” Willow nodded, “We _are_ witches. It’s what we do. And we had to explain to-”  
  
  
“No, I don’t mean that,” Tara shook her head, “Earlier, you said you knew a spell to make people forget? And then when you were explaining how we did magic, you talked about how if you wanted, almost anything could be done with magic.”  
  
  
“That’s true, though, baby. I mean, spells, even simple ones, they can...you can do anything. Be anything. That’s what makes us so powerful.”  
  
  
“Willow, the magics we do...they’re only supposed to be used in emergencies...we’ve been given a gift, one we have to respect and honour. We just...” Tara stopped as she cupped her girlfriend’s cheek and a lone tear fell down her face, “We have to be careful.”  
  
  
“Are you saying...” Willow furrowed her brow as she tried to understand what the blonde was saying, “Are you saying I shouldn’t do magic anymore? That we shouldn’t do magic anymore?”  
  
  
“No, sweetie, I just mean...”  
  
  
Willow suddenly batted Tara’s hand away from her cheek and stood up, angry.  
  
  
“What? What do you mean? That I shouldn’t help our friends save the world? That I should just revert back to the pathetic little geek I was in highschool?”  
  
  
“No, Willow, that’s not...I didn’t...”  
  
  
The tears starting flowing down Tara’s cheeks as she struggled to say what she meant. Willow noticed and her anger instantly dissipated replaced with fresh worry and concern and she rushed to the blonde’s side, sitting beside her on the bed and cupping both her cheeks and wiping her tears away with her thumbs.  
  
  
“Shush, baby, shush, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell, I’m so sorry.”  
  
  
Tara swallowed a few times to regain stable control of her voice again before speaking.  
  
  
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t do magic. I just think...that maybe you need to learn a little about the wiccan laws and about nature and balance. Those spells you mentioned...they’re dark magic, Willow. And dark magic can destroy your soul and I won’t, I won’t let that happen to you.”  
  
  
Willow nodded, a few errant tears falling down her cheeks as well as she took in exactly what her girlfriend was saying, seeing that she’d only spoken out of pure love, before moving forward and kissing Tara on the bridge of her nose, between her eyes.  
  
  
“You’ll teach me?” she asked when she pulled back, “You’ll teach me the wiccan laws and everything?”  
  
  
Tara nodded her head, her tears drying up.  
  
  
“Of course.”  
  
  
“I kinda just got catapulted into the whole magic thing. It made me into someone. Someone powerful,” Willow said as they looked into each other’s eyes, before lowering her voice and her gaze, “It made me into the person you fell in love with.”  
  
  
“Willow...” Tara replied, lifting the redhead’s chin with her finger, “I fell in love with you. Your beauty, your heart, your strength. Those are the things that make you powerful. If we never did magic again, I would be every bit in love with your beautiful soul as I am now.”  
  
  
Willow looked into the deep azure eyes she loved so much and nothing but truth and devotion emanating from them, extinguishing a fear she’d had from the moment she’d met the blonde, it was why she’d worked so hard on learning all the magic she could, not caring what the source was, because as long as she was ‘large with the witch-fu’, as Buffy might say, Tara would love her. But she saw now that wasn’t true.  
  
  
“You really would, wouldn’t you?”  
  
  
“Always, Willow. Forever.”  
  
  
Willow rested her forehead against the blonde’s and let their lips meet tenderly for a few moments.  
  
  
“I’ll learn whatever you have to teach me,” she whispered into the kiss, sealing the promises each time their lips met, “I’ll respect magic. And I promise, no matter how tempting, I will never dip into the dark arts.”  
  
  
Willow hadn’t even realised until that moment that she may have been going down a slippery road in regards to her magic use, but she knew with Tara by her side, teaching her the things she’d been neglected of in her learning of the craft, that together they could become anything, but with their love at the helm and not their abilities.  
  
  
“I love you,” Tara whispered back, “Only you.”  
  
  
Willow pulled back and looked into the blonde’s eyes, her breathing heavy as she glanced down at the bed they were sitting on, before looking back into her girlfriend’s eyes. Tara gave a small, almost imperceptible nod before they were falling onto the bed beside each other, their mouths locked together as their hands quickly divested each other of their clothing until they were lying naked alongside one another.  
  
  
“You’re so beautiful,” Willow said in awe as she looked down Tara’s body before ducking her head to kiss along her collarbone, “So beautiful.”  
  
  
Tara gently lifted Willow’s head back up to hers and kissed her with all the love and passion she had, their tongues duelling inside the redhead’s mouth as two sets of fingers took a familiar path down their bodies until they were inside each other, moving in and out in a slow and deep rhythm.  
  
  
“You’re reaching my soul,” Willow said quietly when they pulled back for air, “Do you feel it?”  
  
  
“Yes,” Tara croaked out, a single tear falling down her cheek, “It’s merged with mine.”  
  
  
“No more tears,” Willow replied, kissing away the droplet.  
  
  
Tara locked eyes with the redhead as she felt both them reaching their crescendo.  
  
  
“It’s a good tear. It means I love you.”  
  
  
Tara watched as Willow’s face broke out in ecstasy at her statement and she followed barely a second later, their combined passion and love engulfing their bodies in a series of convulsions and contractions until they both stilled in the bed and kissed softly.  
  
  
“I love you, too,” Willow murmured into the kiss as they both removed their fingers, resting them on top of each other’s mounds.  
  
  
Tara echoed the sentiment, kissing each other until their hearts stopped racing and their bodies calm down, after which the blonde knew she had to tell her girlfriend the other concerns she had on her mind. Willow had believed in their love enough to realise she had issues with the magics and now Tara had to believe enough that her past wouldn’t make Willow love her any less.  
  
  
“I have to tell you some stuff,” she said when Willow pulled the blanket up over them, “Some stuff about me. My past.”  
  
  
“Okay,” Willow nodded, her eyes drooping.  
  
  
Tara saw the exhaustion, from the day and their lovemaking evident all over her lover’s face and quietly gathered her in her arms.  
  
  
“I’ll tell you in the morning. Sleep now.”  
  
  
“You sure?” Willow asked, trying but failing to stifle a yawn, “Very sleepy...”  
  
  
“I know, sweetie. Sleep, my love. And know that I’ll love you forever.”  
  


* * *

  
  
“They found fingerprints?” Buffy asked, surprised.  
  
  
They’d all met back in the Magic Back in the morning, as had been arranged, all except Tara and Willow but Buffy figured they were having some extra smoochie-time and who was she to deny her best friend that?  
  
  
“Yep,” Garcia nodded, “Forensics came back this morning. There was a old rag dropped behind one of the bushes at the scene, doused with chloroform, which was suspected already ‘cause they were all unconscious through the entire abduction. Guy was in the system, Luis Cortez, low-time drug and people trafficking thug from LA, retired apparently and lives out here now. They’re going to collect him now.”  
  
  
“Huh,” Buffy said, shaking her head, “So it’s not...”  
  
  
“Supernatural. Doesn’t look that way,” Garcia shook her head as well, “Probably a new one for this town. You know, I looked up the murder rates for Sunnydale last night and-”  
  
  
“Crazy high, yea,” Buffy sighed, “Vamps.”  
  
  
Garcia’s eyes started to twinkle as she thought of more slayer-related questions she wanted to ask Buffy before the case was closed and she headed back to Quantico, head full of knowledge she knew she could never share, but was stopped as Willow burst through the front door, flustered and looking more terrified than Buffy had ever seen her, which was saying something.  
  
  
“Tara’s gone.”


	5. Chapter 5

_"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars." - Khalil Gibran_

* * *

  
  
“What?” Buffy asked, jumping up from her seat, “What do you mean, gone?”  
  
  
“I, I woke up and there was a note on the pillow, saying she was gone to get us coffee and she’d be right back but then an hour passed and she wasn’t back so I went looking, I looked everywhere, all over campus and the Espresso Pump and the library and something’s wrong, I can feel it, I can feel her,” Willow rambled, before looking pleadingly at the slayer, “She’s in pain.”  
  
  
“Tara has blonde hair and blue eyes,” Garcia said suddenly, whipping out her cell phone, “It’s another abduction.”  
  
  
Willow collapsed onto the floor, sobbing when she heard this and Buffy ran over to comfort her while Garcia spoke on the phone.  
  
  
“Hotch, no time for witty puns or flirty name-calling, there’s been another abduction, one of the girls I’m working with here. She fits the profile, blonde hair, blue eyes, taken some time this morning.”  
  
  
Garcia listened carefully to her boss on the other end, nodding as he spoke.  
  
  
“Okay. Okay. I got it, sir. I’ll keep you informed.”  
  
  
She flipped her cell phone shut and quickly pulled out her laptop, motioning for Kevin to do the same, as Willow and Buffy returned to the table.  
  
  
“We have to help her, we have to find her,” Willow wailed, “Some demon has her and-”  
  
  
“We think we’ve ruled out demonic activity,” Buffy said softly.  
  
  
“Which is good news,” Garcia added, “Because it means that me and Kevin can actually contribute. Gathering information on low-life _human_ swine is our specialty. My team have the fingerprints guy in the station, they’re questioning him right now.”  
  
  
Willow looked at a loss so Buffy quickly filled her in on the developments since they’d last spoken. The case may not be supernaturally based any longer, but now it was much more personal, and Buffy was even more determined to bring whoever had taken Tara down than she was before.  
  
  
“It’s Tara Maclay, right?” Garcia asked as she typed furiously over the keypad.  
  
  
Willow nodded weakly as Xander came to her other side and both he and Buffy rubbed her back comfortingly.  
  
  
“Tara Maclay...second year student at University of Sunnydale...” Garcia read off as different windows popped open on her screen, before a confused look cross her features, “Changed her name before enrolling...”  
  
  
Both Buffy and Xander’s eyebrows shot up and Willow stiffened in her seat.  
  
  
“Mother died three years ago, cancer, left behind her father and brother...” Garcia continued before looking up from her screen, “Her father was put in jail for child neglect and abuse charges after a teacher reported seeing bruising on her, her brother was charged with assault and battery.”  
  
  
Willow would have normally been highly impressed with the speed and skill of a fellow hacker and would’ve asked to supervise and learn whatever she could, but all she could think about was Tara and how she had failed her.  
  
  
“Oh god,” she started sobbing again, “She tried...she wanted to tell me this last night, she said she wanted to tell me stuff about her past but I was so tired and...oh god.”  
  
  
Willow leapt up from the seat and ran straight into the storeroom of the shop, sobbing the whole way. Xander stood and went to follow her, but Anya put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head.  
  
  
“Give her a minute.”  
  
  
Xander nodded and sank back into his seat, desperate to do something, anything to help but unsure of what he could do. Buffy seemed to be having the same problem, twitching in her seat and Giles had a hand over his mouth, shocked and upset by the disappearance of the young witch.  
  
  
“Dammit, we have to find her,” Buffy exclaimed after a moment, slamming her fist against the table, “Our friend is missing and we have to find her!”  
  
  
“We have to accept the help on this one, Buffy,” Giles said from across the table, his expression pained as he didn’t like what he was saying anymore than the others did, “We’re trained in demons, they’re trained in criminals. We have to give up some control.”  
  
  
Buffy didn’t seem to like this face, but knew her watcher was right just as Garcia’s phone rang again.  
  
  
*  
  
  
“We got your prints and spilled chloroform in the trunk of your car,” Derek said, glaring at the short man across the table from him, “You’re going down for this, Cortez, so do yourself a favour and tell us where you’ve stashed the girl, I may be able to cut you a deal.”  
  
  
Cortez looked between the open folder in front of him, showing the proof he was involved in the abductions and back at the hardened face of the cop. He’d done time already and hadn’t survived well, two broken arms and a broken collarbone before he’d been put in protective custody proved that, his short stature making him seem weak among the other inmates.  
  
  
He’d only taken this job because he was running low on cash, his ex-wife bleeding him dry with her alimony checks and he needed to keep a roof over his head and food in the refrigerator.  
  
  
“Yo, Cortez, I’m speaking here!” Derek yelled, banging his fist on the table, “You listening?”  
  
  
“Look, I swear, I was only the runner on this,” Luis said, his cuffed wrists behind the chair and all too obvious reminder of the past he wanted to avoid repeating, “Some guy hired me. Pick up the girl, then drop her off.”  
  
  
Derek looked surprised at this and leant forward in his chair.  
  
  
“Who hired you? For what?”  
  
  
“I don’t know his name, never asked, never told. Average height, dark hair. He said he was looking for a girl, around 5’’4, blonde hair, blue eyes. Didn’t have any pictures, said all he knew was that she lived in Sunnydale and went to USD. He said to bring me anyone who matched that description. I was like, ‘dude are crazy, it’s California, almost half the population match your description’, but he said he’d wait as long as he had to, that I’d have to bring the right girl eventually. When I brought them and they were wrong he said just to dump them on the side of the road and find the next girl.”  
  
  
“He was looking for a particular girl?” Derek asked, his full attention on the convict.  
  
  
“Yep,” Luis nodded and couldn’t help a self-satisfied smirk as he continued, “And I got her this morning. I mean, please, a description that vague and I get her on only the fourth attempt? That’s skills, man.”  
  
  
Derek balled a fist at his side, this man was angering him beyond belief, but he knew he had to control himself.  
  
  
“Your only skill will be playing the wife of some murderer in the state lock-up if you don’t start giving me some answers. Where did you take the girls?”  
  
  
Luis leaned forwards, trying to seem cool.  
  
  
“You cut me a deal, no prison time, and I tell you.”  
  
  
Derek grabbed the man’s head and slammed it against the table, deciding it was no time for pleasantries.  
  
  
“Tell me and I won’t bash your head it, understand?”  
  
  
“A storage facility, Elm and Washington. Number 7,” Luis croaked, before Derek released his head, and he snapped his neck back and forth, “I think the dude sleeps there. Pays me extra to bring food every day. He’s been looking more and more scruffy since day one. Dude could use a razor and some shampoo, you know?”  
  
  
“Oh yea, I know,” Derek said, looking up and down the convict, almost in disgust, “Sit tight, Luis, these four walls are gonna be your home for the next little while.”  
  
  
Derek stood and left the interrogation room, where the others were already gathering their stuff to leave for the address they’d been directed to and whipped out his cell, dialling Garcia.  
  
  
“Baby girl, we got an address of where they’re keeping the girl.”  
  
  
*  
  
  
“They?” Garcia asked, “I thought you caught the guy?”  
  
  
Garcia listened as Morgan quickly recounted the details of his interrogation, something springing to mind he spoke.  
  
  
“The accomplice, does he have dark hair, a little on the heavy side, ugly face?”  
  
  
At Derek’s confirmation that that sounded similar to the description given, she quickly starting typing on her laptop.  
  
  
“Picture being sent as we speak.”  
  
  
*  
  
  
Derek opened the picture file and went back into the room, showing it to Luis.  
  
  
“This the guy?”  
  
  
Luis looked at it for a moment, before nodding.  
  
  
“That’s him. Like I said, scruffier, but that’s him.”  
  
  
Derek brought the phone back up to her ear.  
  
  
“That’s our guy, dollface. How’d you find him, who is he?”  
  
  
*  
  
  
“Never underestimate my incredible hacking skills and eternal love for your sculpted bod,” Garcia replied, “That is Donald Morris, Tara’s brother. Did time for multiple counts of assault on his sister. Got released last month.”  
  
  
She heard Derek sigh over the phone before he told her he was going to inform the rest of the team and that he’d call her when they knew Tara was safe before hanging up.  
  
  
“Okay, good news, they know where Tara is and they’re going to get her now,” she said to the rest of the group, relieve evident all around, “I know my guys, they’re good, and he’s gonna call us as soon as she’s safe.”  
  
  
“We should go out there,” Buffy said, getting off her seat again, “We can help.”  
  
  
“We’ll just get in the way,” Giles shook his head, before fixing the slayer with a calm stare, “We must trust that in this one, very rare occasion, we aren’t the ones who will be saving a life today.”  
  
  
“We have to tell Willow,” Xander said, moving towards the door for the storeroom, “She’s probably still crying down there.”  
  
  
He went through the door and called his friend’s name. When there was no answer, he went in further and paled as he saw the room completely empty and the door to the street was flung open. He scurried back into the store, pointing desperately at the doorway.  
  
  
“Willow, gone, not there, gone!”  
  
  
Buffy, Giles and Anya all rushed into the storeroom. Buffy and Giles ran straight to the open door to the street, looking out as if they expected to Willow just standing or sitting there while Anya noticed something off to the side and went to investigate.  
  
  
“Guys?” she said after a moment, gesturing them towards her, “This is the stuff for a locator spell. She’s gone to find Tara.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Donald Morris, known to most simply as ‘Donny’ smirked as he saw the figure he had tied to a chair in the middle of the storage unit, lit only by a fading light hanging from the ceiling, the place he’d been calling home for the past week begin to stir. He’d been waiting for this day for a long time and his smirk only got wider as the glassy eyes of the girl who was once his sister started focusing and registered his presence. He walked forwards so he was standing over her and gave her small smack on the head, just like he used to, to let her know who was in charge.  
  
  
“Hello Sarah. Long time no see.”


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

_"...for he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother." - William Shakespeare_

* * *

  
  
“Or should I say...” Donny shoved his hand into Tara’s pocket roughly, making the girl whimper and pulled out her wallet, opening it and eyeing her student ID, “Tara Maclay.”  
  
  
Donny whistled approvingly, grinning.  
  
  
“That’s cute. Mom’s name and grandma’s surname. And what’s this...?”  
  
  
He picked out the photo Tara kept of her Willow and held it up to his face.  
  
  
“Well well, who’s this now? She’s a cutie. Is this your little girlfriend?” Donny asked, before his tone turned venomous, “I see me and Daddy didn’t do enough to get rid of those dirty dyke thoughts you’d been having. Seems to me like you need a little reminder.”  
  
  
He struck Tara hard across the face, his hand leaving an imprint on her cheek and Tara bit back a tear.  
  
  
“We were only ever trying to help you,” Donny continued, cracking his knuckles in a way that made Tara feel like the was the vulnerable girl who was being beaten on a daily basis with no mother to protect her again, “Tryin’ to show ya a woman’s place in the world, get those evil thoughts out of your head. Not just those sinful dyke ones. Mom filled your head full of all of that magic rubbish, she didn’t learn from Daddy’s beatings. You know, I was glad the day she died, ‘cause it meant there was one less bitch walking the streets.”  
  
  
Tara couldn’t help the tear that fell at this, her mother had been her idol and even though she hadn’t known it at the time, took beatings for the first seventeen years of her life so that she didn’t have to.  
  
  
“Why all the others?” she asked after a moment.  
  
  
“Well, see now, I knew I couldn’t just go roaming the streets looking for you. You always had this sixth sense thing about you, not that I believe in that hocus-pocus bullshit, but I knew if I tried to find you on campus you’d know and run a mile. And I couldn’t have you trying to escape my clutches,” Donny said in a mocking tone, “Oh no, I knew this would take time. Time and dedication. So one of my jail buddies hooked me up with a friend of his who lives down here and I had him find anyone that looked like you. Daddy burned all the damn photos after mom’s funeral so I only had descriptions to go on. Damn, it could’ve taken me months of paying that slimeball and living in this hole but it only took four days. Guess some things are just meant to be.”  
  
  
Donny’s lecherous smirk made Tara’s stomach twist and turn inside her.  
  
  
“How did you find me?” she managed to speak after a moment, lifting her head defiantly.  
  
  
“Ha, that’s where you slipped up, baby sis. You see, when me and Daddy went to prison, all thanks to you...” he stopped and sneered at the blonde, “The bank took the house. Marked it as abandoned, boarding it all up. But when I got out last month, I went and paid a visit, wanting to look around, see everything you took from me, from us. And it was right there, in your bedroom. Still in the trash can, hadn’t even been emptied. Your acceptance letter for the University of Sunnydale. And I knew, it was a sign, God was telling me where you’d disappeared to so I could finally get the justice that me and Daddy deserved. That I could finally show you what you really are, a nothing, a woman, a lesser being. You need to learn, once and for all, that you are good for nothing but serving a man.”  
  
  
“I’m good for a lot of things,” Tara spat out, with a lot more conviction than she’d ever spoken to her brother before, “I’m a good student, I’m a good girlfriend and I help save the world on a daily basis. I’m good for so much more than you ever could be.”  
  
  
Tara felt the response to her words as Donny’s fist almost instantly connected with her jaw and could taste blood dripping into her mouth from her now-busted lip.  
  
  
“Now you listen here, you little bitch, you’re under my control now, you hear? I control your pain, and I control whether you live or die. So it would be in your best interests to be nice to me.”  
  
  
Tara felt her entire body contort in fear as Donny thrust his hips towards her face in a vulgar manner. His and her father’s abuse had never turned sexual, though Donny had hinted at it enough times that it presented as a very real threat in this instance.  
  
  
“I need to show you what your little dykey girlfriend can’t. How you serve a man and all his needs properly.”  
  
  
Tara knew that Donny expected her to back down, take whatever verbal or physical abuse was hurled at her, just like she had when she still lived at home, but she wasn’t about to do that. She wasn’t that person anymore, she wasn’t the worthless piece of dirt they made her feel, she was a strong woman and she wasn’t about to abandon that.  
  
  
“You holding your head up high, huh?” Donny sneered again, seeing his sister wasn’t backing down, “Well that suits me just fine, ‘cause you’re head is right in line with my-”  
  
  
Donny was stopped from finishing his crude statement as the retractable door of the unit they were in flew upwards and the figure of Willow appeared, floating a foot off the ground, fists clenched at each side and much to Tara’s alarm, her eyes were not the usual emerald green that she adored gazing into, they were a dark black.  
  
  
“Vozduh stal Kulak,” Willow chanted, tossing a hand towards Donny.  
  
  
A force of solidified air flew Donny into the corner, where he banged his head against the wall and slumped against it, unconscious. The force of the spell made the door slam down shut again, the sound making Tara jump in the chair, but didn’t deter Willow as the redhead floated over to where the man lay, her eyes and facial expressions laced with venom. A thousand spells ran through her mind, each one providing Donny with even more pain and anguish, until a quiet voice started seeping into her consciousness, one she couldn’t ignore.  
  
  
“Willow. Willow. Willow, please, come back to me.”  
  
  
Willow felt herself slowly float to the ground until her two feet were planted firmly on it and turned, blinking a few times until her eyes were back to their normal green. Her gaze locked on Tara and she ran over, doing the ropes around her wrists and ankles.  
  
  
“Oh god, baby, you’re okay, you’re okay, I was so worried.”  
  
  
“I’m okay,” Tara nodded, stretching her now un-bound limbs, “Just a fat lip.”  
  
  
Tara brought her hand up to her lip and felt the blood that was there, glancing at Donny and the trickle of red that was running from his nose. They were bleeding the same blood, the blood of their parents, their relatives. But not her family, Tara thought.  
  
  
No that honour went solely to the petite girl who was currently hugging her and their loyal circle of friends. They were her family, no matter blood they all came from. Willow pulled back from the hug and saw Tara staring at the unconscious form in the corner, drawing the wrong conclusion.  
  
  
“Tara, I’m so sorry,” she said, almost near tears, “I don’t know what came over me, but I just felt so much darkness. It consumed me.”  
  
  
“You came back,” Tara whispered, snapping to attention at seeing her girlfriend so distressed and holding both of her shoulders, “You didn’t hurt him. Not more than he deserved. All you did was protect me. And we’ll work together to make sure if those feelings ever happen again that you can control them. Okay?”  
  
  
“You and me against the world?” Willow asked, with a small sniff and a smile.  
  
  
“Forever.”  
  
  
Willow nodded, before glancing back at Donny.  
  
  
“Um, baby...is that...your brother?”  
  
  
Willow had run out of the Magic Box before she’d gotten the full story, but had pieced together some things in her head.  
  
  
“Yea,” Tara replied, looking down, “I have a lot to tell you. A lot you need to know.”  
  
  
Willow dropped her head to meet her girlfriend’s gaze, smiling at her.  
  
  
“I know. And you will. Whenever you’re ready. But right now, all I need to know is that you’re safe and in my arms.”  
  


* * *

  
  
“Well that was the most interesting cases we’ve been on,” Morgan said from his seat on the jet, where he was playing cards with Reid, “I still don’t get how two petite girls, one of whom was tied up managed to overpower and knock unconscious a full-grown man.”  
  
  
“Those girls were strange,” Emily said, flicking through a magazine, “That whole group were. I mean, journalists involved in digging up dirt is not exactly newsworthy, but these guys seemed like they were the ones who actually did the police work in that town. Which can’t be said for the actual police.”  
  
  
“That whole town gave me the heebie jeebies,” JJ shuddered, “I for one am glad we’re finished with that case.”  
  
  
“And that Mr. Morris is going away for a loooong time,” Rossi added, always satisfied beyond belief when they caught the bad guy, “Can you imagine harbouring so much hatred for your own sister that you’d go to all those lengths just to hurt her? Makes me happy the only fighting I do with my siblings is over who gets the drumstick at Thanksgiving.”  
  
  
Off in the corner, Garcia and Kevin just smiled at each other. Their lives had been changed forever by the knowledge they’d discovered on what should have been a routine case, but they knew as long as they kept the secret of the group of inconspicuous college students in Sunnydale, California that the world would forever be safe.  


* * *

_  
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." - Anthony Brandt_

 


End file.
